One of the benefits of living in Utah is running into LDS missionaries quite a bit. They’re all over the place. Last month I was able to talk to a couple missionaries walking by our home. (They have never come to our home in over 5 years of living here… even after inviting them on different occasions!) I didn’t have much time, so after some brief introductions, I got right into it by asking them why they think Mormonism is true. Of course they went right into their feelings, but the one guy who had been on his mission the longest and was doing most of the talking finally admitted that he could be wrong.

I then asked them if they have read the Bible. They both said they had. So I asked them if they noticed any difference between what it teaches and what they believe. Of course they said they didn’t. I then started quoting them Isaiah 43:10 as well as some other standard monotheism passages of the Bible and contrasting that with a couple of their scriptures. Their response… “Well we really don’t see a difference and could argue about this all day long.” It obviously wasn’t that important to them. So I said, “You’re kidding me. You don’t see a difference between the God of the Bible who created literally everything outside Himself and the God of Mormonism, who had to bow down to another God before He could become a God, made the heavens and earth with other Gods, and you guys even think you can become Gods yourselves of other worlds?” At this point, I knew they wanted to go, so I gave them a very lasting impression by bowing down to them and saying, “This is what you guys expect one day from your spirit-kids if you become Gods?” (I wondered what the neighbors thought if they saw me doing this?)

At this point, my wife Tara drove home and could see me bowing down to them, so she stopped the mini-van in the middle of the street, rolled down her window, and said, “Isaiah 43:10 is clear when God says there’s no God before Him, nor shall there be after Him. You guys aren’t going to be Gods of your own worlds someday.” As these guys were removing themselves from our conversation, I was happy to tell them that my wife used to think just like them, but she gave her life to the God of the Bible and they need to do that as well.

Fast forward a couple weeks later, and Tara was out exercising, running up and down our street, and guess who she ran into. Yep, the same missionaries! They didn't want to get into it with her and told her that "contention is of the devil." She told them the Bible instead teaches to contend for your faith (Jude 3), and then said, "21 Christians just got beheaded for their faith in Egypt and you guys are walking away. All I want to do is have a conversation; that's pathetic!"

High School Evangelism

Here’s an update on the Kearns High School situation that I reported last month. For those who didn’t read about it, basically, a school cop and a couple admins came out to tell me that I shouldn’t be on the public sidewalk right out in front of the school parking lot. The cop even told me that I may be in violation of some state code. So I wrote a Utah ACLU lawyer, and he said, “In general, I have my doubts about the enforceability of this statue, though there could be situations where it might be defensible. Specific to the situation you described, without knowing all the facts, my impression is that they went too far. The general rule is that a sidewalk is a public space, and you have the right to be there. Feel free to contact me again if this happens again.”

So I went back to evangelize outside of Kearns HS to see what they were going to do about it. I am happy to report that I had no issue with school cop or admins this time! There was even a regular cop who drove up and parked across from me to watch me for a few minutes, and then he took off. So I feel like we had a small victory and I don't have to worry about it. Thank God we live in a country where we also don't have to worry about being beheaded for being a Jesus freak!

Ex-Mormon Meetup

We had a great Meetup with Shareen Smith Kaupke last month. You may watch the video here and see the photos here.

We Need Your Partnership!

We not only need your prayers, but we need your financial assistance as well. Keep in mind that your investment is not simply for us, but for the lives of others we reach with the gospel. The standard way to financially invest is by writing a check to Courageous Christians United (CCU). For more information on various ways to invest in this ministry, including online giving, please see our “Invest” page on any of our sites. Please keep in mind we have no financial guarantees each month. Ministry partners come and go as jobs do. If you’re not a partner, please consider joining our team and let us know soon. We’d love to be your missionaries here in Utah. Many thanks to those of you who hold us up in prayer and in your financial giving!

We expect God to provide for our needs through you. Why? Because the Bible is clear: “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14).

I'm not planning on stoning anyone according to Old Testament law. However, I am a person made in the image of God, with a mind He gave me to glorify Him with and "judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24) rather than hypocritical judgment. If that's not the case, then we can't test all things and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thes. 5:21). Good and evil lose all meaning as far as our understanding of them. So who am I not to judge righteously?
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i invite you guys to forget your stupid ideas, and sincerelly read the book of mormon, and ask god if you really believe in god you must do it if the book of mormon like the bible is his word and it's truth... if you do you'll receive an answer that you can deny... but if you don't do it you're going to be embarrased at the second coming of the lord

please stop talking garbage about the lord's church

i hope you the best
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[Left under one of my YouTube videos:] I dont care what that man says, i dont feel the spirit out of him. He is scary.
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Thank you, Rob for reminding me about the April Mormon Conference. I forgot and thought Joe and I would need to wait until October to join you. It's exciting to witness the real Jesus to the souls that I used to share beliefs with.
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[From a friend inquiring about what to tell his friend, who wants to witness to her impending LDS sister:] I have several points and such that I would make but I was wondering if you would tell her to avoid the confrontation with the missionaries altogether and just try and meet with the sister although I’m sure she has tried that and missionaries are telling the sister not to do it.

“Hey! I desperately need some advice. My sister is determined to be baptized as a Mormon on Saturday. My family is freaking out and since she trusts me the most I decided to meet with her Mormon missionaries and her on Friday. I have been preparing a lot of material but I could really use some good old testament scriptures. Could you ask around and see if anyone at camp could help. It would be so helpful. Just call me or email me”

When I asked her for more specifics, she said “My sister believes that God and Jesus are two separate people, salvation is works based, hell doesn't exist and prophesy never stops because scripture adapts to time. I think I have enough about who God is and why Jesus came but it's scripture of the afterlife and prophesy where I can't find specific verses to back up truth if that makes sense...”

If the sister isn't open to evidence, then there's not much to do except pray and love until God moves the heart. Please also send along my email to them.

[She responded:] Thank youuuuu! I talked with all of them today and it went really well! I knew that it wasn't going to bare instant fruit but I stayed calm and surprised them with a lot points. They are not being honest of what they believe so there's nothing I can say to my sister different because she thinks that any strange facts about the Mormons is just fake exaggerations off the internet. The prayer definitely came through!!! I was very calm and i felt very confident in my responses because I knew that the Truth was all I needed. I was scared before meeting them because I was afraid of seeming ignorant about my own faith or that I wouldn't be able to defend myself but it never became a debate and I was on the defense which was shocking. I'm going to keep loving her and sharing my knowledge in hopes that when she learns about their fallacies that she will come back realizing that they aren't Christians. However, she says she was saved when she was young, but I don’t know, but I do know she has to make a choice and I can't force her. So please just keep praying for my family and just thank God for a great chance to communicate the gospel clearly?

[I responded to my friend:] [She] needs to make sure that she can actually open up their own scriptures and show them the passages that teach their doctrine. Then it's no longer something you saw on the internet. I should have also passed along http://www.mormoninfo.org/SiteData/mormoninfo-org/witnessing_cheat_sheet.pdf for her to use while talking to them.
Praying that [her sister]'s eyes will be open as well as those missionaries.
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Yes. God says that if we go through life doing our best and we repent for our sins and follow the commandments, we can return to Heaven and become a God. And also I'm LDS (mormon) and this website has some wrong information about us.
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I was surprised by the statement in your newsletter that 20% of your income for the ministry goes to taxes. The Government gets its hands on everything that it can :(. We will continue to pray for and support you.